Feather ball



March 1940.

FEATHER BALL iled Feb,

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 m 0 T e w z i, p M J ab a a mw Z 54 5 4 vv I/// v7. v 3

RNEYS March 12, 1940. c. g. RAIZEN AL 2,193,645

FEATHER BALL Filed Feb. 8, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F- :LE-.4 I 1 .8'

Charles 5. -Raz'zen ATT RNEYS INVENTORS Patented Mar. 12, 1940 UNITED STATE v FEATHER BALL Charles S. Raicen, New Rochelle," N. and Wilbur D. May, Franktown Nev.

Application February s, 1938, Sara: 1%. 189,288

3 Claims. (01. 273-406.)

This. invention relates to a ball construction which has feathers attached thereto and which is adapted to be batted or thrown in the playing of games, or for the purpose of engaging in exercise.

The main object of the invention is to provide a novel feather ball construction which is so made that when it is batted by the hand or bya suitable bat against a playing surface or towards another playerit will always be presented to the playing surface or to the other player with its batting or rebound surface in a proper position for rebounding or being batted back to the origia feather ball construction which is so made that v it may be readily grasped by the hand and thrown either against a playing surface or to another person and so that its rebounding or receiving portion will always be presented to said playing surface or to said receiver.

A further object of the invention is to provide a ball construction made with a resilient bounding portion and having a plurality of feathers secured thereto which are adapted to direct the flight of the ball when it is batted or thrown so that the boundingportion of the ball will always be presented towards the point where the ball. is being batted or thrown. P

A further object of the invention is to provide a feather ball construction wherein the interior of the ball is provided with resilient means to give 1 said ball increased bounding characteristics.

A further object of the invention is to provide a feather ball construction which is provided with means for securely holding a plurality of feathers in proper position with respect to the ball portion and which means also is used to secure the ball portion to said feathers. 7

Other objects of the invention will appear more fully hereinafter.

We accomplish these objects by means of the constructions disclosed in the drawin s-forming part of present specification and in which- Figure l is an elevational vi w of a feather ball construction embodying our invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the ball construction shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view Figure 1 taken on the line 3-3 of that figure, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure sectional view of a modified form of construction for a feather ball made in accordance with our invention;

Figure 5 is a broken view, partly in section,

1 suitable cloth material.

of a further modified feather ball construction; and

Figure 6 is a broken view, partly in section,

' of a third "modified form of the invention.

Referring to the'ball construction as shown in "'5' Figures 1, 2 and 3, the numeral idesignates generally the ball portion and? the feather portion of a feather ball made in accordance with'our invention. I

The ballportion l is provided with a cover which may be made of a soft leather or of any This cover may be made up of cut pieces of material which are sewn to getheralong the seams, indicated at 3, and. so

designed that there is formed a bulbous shaped base portion 4 which tapers upwardly and termiv notes in a comparatively small oylindrical'open portion 5." The ball cover when so formed is packed tightly with a resilient packing material v p of any suitable character which is indicated at 6 in Figure 2.

Theta'pere'd portion of the ball structure be- I tween the bulbous shaped baseand the upper portion 5' provides a convenient section of the ball structure which may be readily grasped by 26 the hand when the ball is to be thrown. 'The outer face i of the bulbous shaped base portion provides a striking surface for the ball when it is batted or struck by a user. a

The upper open cylindrical shaped portion 5. 30 of the ball cover is adapted "to be fitted around and secured to a feather-holder member 8 of the ball structure by means of a binder cord .or wire '9. The binder cord or wire is tightly wound around" the cover and binds the same in the groove it] provided in the feather holder'member. The feather holder member 8 may be made of rubber or cork or any other suitable light material' and the lower ends of the feathers are inserted in holes ll provided in said holder and 40 rigidly secured therein by glue or cement.

It will be apparent from the above description of the feather ball construction illustrated. in Figures 1, 2 and 3 that such a ball may be projected through the air by batting the same by the hand or by a suitable bat, on the fiat surface 7 of the bulbous portion 4, or by grasping the same around the tapered portion and then throwing'the same. Also, that when the ball is projected through the air the feathers secured to the ball will cause the ball to travel with the bulbous shaped base portion 4 foremost. It is also evident that because the ball is packed with a resilient material it will have a resilient rebound when it is struck or when it contacts with a striking surface.

In the ball construction illustrated in Figure 4, the cover of the ball portion I is made of leather or of cloth in the same manner and in the shape as described in connection with the structure shown in Figure 1. The feathers 2 are also similarly secured in a holder member l2 and the top portion of the cover of the ball is tightly secured around the feather holder by means of a cord or wire as previously described. The bulbous shaped base portion l3 has positioned therein a cup shaped member M which may be made of a light metal or other suitable stiff material. The cup shaped member is formed with an upwardly extending cylindrical projection I5. The outer face of the cup member is covered with a backing of felt indicated at l6, and the lower part of the bulbous shaped base portion below the cup member is tightly packed with suitable resilient packing material l'l.

Mounted within the ball covering of the structure shown in Figure 4 is the spring l8. The lower end of said spring is secured to the cylindrical projection l5 of the cup shaped member l4 and its upper end is secured around the reduced portion IQ of the feather holder 20.

A feather ball made in the manner shown in Figure 4 will have an increased resiliency and a greater rebound of the ball will result when it is struck by the hand or by a bat, because of the presence of the spring l8. Also a feather ball constructed in this manner may be bounced on the ground or against a wall surface and after rebounding from the ground or wall will turn in flight, because of the feathers attached thereto, so that it can be again struck or batted on the flat surface of the bulbous shaped base.

In Figure 5 another form of means for adding to the bounding characteristics of the feather ball structure is shown. In this structure the cover of the ball is made in the same manner and of the same shape as the cover in the ball structures previously described and as illustrated in Figure 1. However, in this structure a hollow rubber ball 2| is embedded in the resilient packing which is used to fill the interior of the feather ball.

In Figure 6 there is shown a further modified construction which is intended also to give the feather ball an added bounding resiliency. In this form of construction instead of mounting a spring in the interior of the ball cover as was the case in the construction illustrated in Figure 4, there is employed a hollow conical resilient rubber member 23 which has its reduced upper portion 24 formed so that it may be secured around the reduced portion 25 of the feather holder member 26 and its lower portion secured in the cup-like member 2'! which is positioned in the interior of the bulbous shaped base of the ball cover. The cup-like member 2'! has its outer face backed by a layer of felt 28 and the space between the said felt backing and the face of the bulbous base is packed with suitable packing material 29 such as is used to pack the other ball structures above described.

From the above description it will be seen that we have provided a novel feather ball construction for the playing of games or for use in exercising and which embodies several new features. A ball made in accordance with our invention may be struck or batted by the hands, between two or more persons, or by means of any suitable flat wooden bat or striking implement, or it may be thrown between several players or at a playing surface such as a wall or fiat target and rebatted against said wall or target. Also in the case of the structures shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6, it may be bounced or batted against the floor or a wall. In each instance of use, because of the feathers that are used as part of the construction, the ball will always progress through the air, after being hit or after contacting with the floor or a wall, with its base or hitting surface foremost so that it may be readily rehit or batted or bounced again and again by the user thereof.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A feather ball construction comprising a hollow bulbous shaped ball portion made of leather, a feather holder secured to the bulbous portion and having a plurality of feathers rigidly mounted therein, resilient material packed in said bulbous portion to give resiliency thereto and a resilient hollow rubber ball positioned in said portion to give the same added resiliency.

2. A feather ball construction comprising a hollow bulbous shaped ball portion made of leather, a feather holder, having feathers mounted therein, secured to the bulbous portion, resilient material packed in said portion to give resiliency thereto and a hollow rubber ball cooperating with the resilient material and surrounded thereby to give said portion added resiliency.

3. A feather ball construction comprising a hollow bulbous shaped portion made of leather, a feather holder having a plurality of feathers mounted therein secured to the bulbous portion, resilient material packed in said ball portion to give resiliency thereto and a hollow rubber ball embedded in said resilient material to give the ball added resiliency.

CHARLES S. RAIZEN. WILBUR D. MAY. 

